Validation of age readings from otoliths of juvenile roundnose grenadier, Coryphaenoides rupestris, a deep-water macrourid fish

Validation of the ageing of deep-water fish is difficult and there are only a few instances where the rings on the otoliths have been shown to be laid down annually. Roundnose grenadier have been fished commercially in the North Atlantic since the 1960s and the adult fish have frequently been aged by counting the rings in otoliths or scales. All the ageing was done on the assumption that the rings in the otoliths or scales were annual. Between 1975 and 1992, the Scottish Association for Marine Science carried out seasonal trawling surveys in the Rockall Trough using a fine-meshed trawl, and collected otoliths from a wide size range of roundnose grenadier. An examination of the growing edge of otoliths from juvenile fish From these collections suggests that the rings in the otoliths are laid down annually. The broader, opaque zones which represent the growth phase were dominant between September and March. The thinner, hyaline zones were dominant between April and July. The apparent delay in the growth phase compared with most shallow-water species is discussed in relation to the availability of mesopelagic prey. (C) 1996 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles